Execution Protocols and Procedures

Please note: These documents are for historical and research purposes only and may not reflect the most current execution protocols in the state of Ohio.

November 2007 Executions in Ohio are conducted by lethal injection. The ACLU of Ohio believes that the process Ohio uses is very likely to, and in some cases has, caused excruciating, torturous pain to the people it kills. As litigation moves through the federal courts regarding the constitutionality of lethal injection, the ACLU of Ohio is engaged in a legal challenge over Ohio’s particular method of execution.

As part of that litigation, and for the first time ever, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has produced extensive materials describing its execution protocols and procedures (including information regarding how they were developed) for selecting members of the execution team and carrying out executions. With a few redactions to protect the identities of the members of the execution team, that information has now been made available.